Word: america
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...same is not true south of the border. Under the best-case scenario in the U.S., unsteady financial institutions will need to off-load toxic assets to Washington's "bad bank" in order to start rebuilding balance sheets. Others, like Citigroup and Bank of America, that are teetering on the brink of insolvency will need new capital just to remain on life support. (See 25 people to blame for the financial crisis...
Those attempts to avoid moral hazard, though, might make the plan less effective in stemming the tide of foreclosures. "This goes a long way but not far enough," says Bruce Marks, who runs the Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America, a nonprofit that works with servicers to restructure loans. After five years, the interest rate on modified loans can rise again, up to the industry average when the change is made, even if that pushes borrowers above the 38% payment-to-income ratio. The plan encourages but does not require servicers to make adjustments to principal balance - the generally acknowledged best...
...exception is Citigroup. Since the bank struck a deal with the government to shield $301 billion in losses, we had to account for some investment missteps to value the arrangement. Bank of America has a similar deal, but since the details aren't public, we didn't factor it in. (See pictures of the top 10 scared traders...
...Bank of America Loan losses: BofA's buyout of mortgage broker Countrywide means the bank has $400 billion in home loans outstanding - more than its competitors. Worse, Countrywide, by nearly all accounts, had shockingly low lending standards. Chalk up a higher-than-average $40 billion in losses there. On top of that, BofA has made $87 billion in loans to commercial real estate developers. Roubini predicts 17% of those loans will go bad as developers hit the skids. For BofA, that's $15 billion more in losses. Toss in $55 billion in commercial- and consumer-loan losses...
Financial stocks were a big drag on Thursday's market - banks fell 6.6%, led by Bank of America's 14% decline. Real estate-related sectors were also sharp decliners, with home construction stocks falling 9%. Both sectors, finance and housing, are at the heart of the goverment's efforts to address the financial crisis. On February 10 Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner unveiled a multi-pronged plan for troubled banks, and on Wednesday President Barack Obama announced a $275 billion program to stem foreclosures and support the housing market. Today's stock market action suggests investors are still in doubt about...